Organizing Baby

Here are a couple of the projects I've done recently.

 The first one is a chest-turned-changing-table. I used to have a changing table pad on top of a large, old record player Darlin got at an auction years ago for $5. Diaper supplies was near by in a large, white basket on a stool. And that worked great. Until the day I moved the record player to sweep behind it (as I hadn't done so, since it was moved there over a year earlier!). The whole bottom of it just started to crumble away! I tried to salvage it, but the bottom was so messed up, the whole thing teeter-tottered side to side. Not good. So, out with the record player :( and in with...well...hmmmm. It forced me to be creative, since I wasn't keen on lugging my now 22lb son upstairs every time he needed a diaper change. That gets exhausting when you're six months pregnant.
 In the kitchen, next to the table, I had this chest with two compartments and a drawer. I had craft supplies for my siblings and our games and such in it. Things that are normally used at the table. I downsized on the craft stuff, and relocated the games to a nearby room. Then I moved the chest to the livingroom and got to work.

 I covered the bottom of the drawer with pretty contact paper from Dollar Tree. The red basket was re-purposed from the downstairs "office". Inside are diapers, of course, wipes, rash creams, lotion, Germ-x, a small toy to keep him occupied, and tucked in behind the wipes is an extra pad cover.

 Then, because our bathroom is ridiculously small, I took this opportunity to move all of Jackson's bath things out of the bathroom and into the chest.

 Hooded towels and washcloths

 Another re-purposed basket to hold shampoos, toys, nail clippers, and baby oil.

 The downsized craft compartment holds a can of crayons, paints, playdough, cards, paper, etc.

Project number two: For Jackson's birthday and for Christmas, he got some gift cards and cash. The gracious givers told me to get him "something he needs". So after taking note that he had more than enough clothing and a bunch of new toys there was really only one thing he did need. A place to keep all his toys and books! The stuff was everywhere, floating around the house. I tried in vain to keep them in baskets, but it was such an overwhelming assortment, that Jackson didn't play with them much. Not to mention the cluttered mess of it all, leading to me scooping and tossing into random baskets in an attempt to keep from tripping on everything. (He liked to dump out all the baskets and crawl away to play with pots and pans and the like). After doing some online browsing, we got him a set of cubbies and fabric totes at Target (some totes from Walmart) and ta-da!





I can't believe how much this has helped. We've been using it for almost a month now, and it is still functioning the way we hoped it would. He still has some books downstairs, but this is the majority of them. I like that there is still room to grow, because that is just inevitable.

 The totes on the very bottom have (left to right) cars, trains, trucks, things with wheels. The middle has an assortment of misfits; phone, shape sorter, weeble wabbles, etc. The last has stuffed animals.

 Then above the stuffed animals are all the ''lego'' blocks. The other two are empty for now. He has a small basket of toys in his playpen in the kitchen, and a toy box in the livingroom. That way, no matter if I'm cooking, folding laundry, or cleaning upstairs, he always has something around that he can play with.

    My favorite part, besides it looking neat and tidy, is that in the mornings when Jackson gets up, I put him on the floor in his room (with the gate up) and he will play with his toys! And I get to have a cup of coffee, quiet time with Jesus and read my Bible. Some days I don't get as much time as I like, but he does pretty good most of the time. Afterwards, sometimes I make a game out of clean up time and he helps for about 30 seconds lol. He will put stuff in the totes and we clap and say "Yay! Good job!" But then he is more interested in emptying them out again :)

The cubbie cost 39.00 and the totes were $5.00 each. But it is so worth it. I'd love to replace the broken bookshelf in our livingroom some day with a four compartment cubbie. When it comes to getting organizing products for the house, I often think of Johnny Cash's song "One piece at a Time", but only, I wish it just cost a dime!

Coming up: How I made my own vanity.

Nostalgic for Spring

I have really been itching for Spring lately. I think this Winter's unusual weather has brought on cabin fever a little earlier this year. It will snow, then melt away, temperatures sometimes getting into the high 30's to low 40's. Well, except this past week. It has hardly gotten above 0. Burr! Let me just tell you; there is nothing very romantic about an old farmhouse in the dead of Winter!. Once you find out how drafty the place is, it takes the blissful feeling outta ya faster than a skim-milk-ghost! We have one room downstairs that is quite cold. I don't think the walls were insulated at all! Last Winter, the ice on the roof started to melt and some water backed up under the shingles. So I had a large mixing bowl set up to catch the drips. I forgot to dump it after Darlin cleared the roof off. Well, that night it froze. And I mean solid. *Sigh*. Re-insulating is on our home repair/improvement list.
   Anyway, lately I find myself daydreaming more and more about getting our garden in, cloth diapers drying on the line, and sound of the "sweet weather birds" (what my Great-Grammie Ruth used to call White Throated Sparrows) singing upon their return. I treasure those few, lovely weeks in Spring when it is warm enough to leave the windows open in the afternoon, the grass is slowly appearing, but it is still too cool for the pesky skeeters and black flies to come out.
    I love the fresh breeze drifting in the house, the sun shining bright, as I tackle Spring cleaning and everything smelling fresh and new. Not to mention I miss my chickens wandering around the yard, eating bugs and greens, scratching around and fluffing themselves in the warm sun.
  I'm sick of white. I'm sick of cold, and ice. I'm sick of short days and everything looking dead. I'm craving green, and I'll even take all the mud now, too.

Finished all the dishes. Thought I'd snap a picture of the sink after I shined it. Because even with only three people in the house, it doesn't stay this way very long! A shiny sink makes me happy. ;)

 Turkey sandwich for lunch with tomatoes, romaine lettuce, onions, bacon and cheese. And iced tea, of course. Mmmm.

 A handful of whole cloves in a small skillet of water set to simmer on the cookstove makes for a nice aroma wafting through the kitchen.

Spring, please get here soon, I miss you so much!!!!!!!!!

Piglets in the Oven

I never imagined I would say I had pigs in my oven. Until Tuesday, that is. Our guinea hog surprised us with 4 piglets in -16*, windy temperatures. When we got her late this past Summer, the guy we bought her from said she was probably bred. Well, we waited beyond the allotted time for a guinea hog (3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days) and just assumed she was not bred. Well lo and behold, our boar must have bred her after they had been here a while...

I stayed up until ten o'clock the night before, turning this diaper box into an organizer. I was going to make a post about it. I had planned to use it in the trunk of my car. But we brought the piglets inside to dry them off so they wouldn't freeze and I needed a box to put them in:( 

 I had to rip out the dividers! :( Those piglets had better be awesome pigs!

 Here are the first three in the oven. We had a fire going in the cook stove earlier, so the oven was still nice and warm.

 Back out in the barn, in the nest that mama pig made...

 Under the heat lamp.

They are so cute! All are doing well and growing!

I'm Back!!!!!!!!!

After a long hiatus, I am finally back on blog world! I tried to upload a slideshow I made for Jackson's birthday on Dec. 9th, but I couldn't get it to work :( Here are some pictures of what's been going on in life...

Jackson's first Thanksgiving! He gobbled up(no pun intended, lol) mashed potatoes with gravy, and loved jellied cranberry sauce! What a cutie!

His first birthday cake! I baked the cake and frosted it, Joe decorated it. He had a lumberjack themed party.

Giving Gramp Osgood kisses!

Cake time!

Yummy!

Birthday boy in his birthday clothes

Auntie got him some frozen juice pops!

We celebrated Uncle Zip's 15th birthday too!

Conversing and gummy fried eggs

The birthday Uncle!

Jackson's first trip to the library! All the kids dressed in p.j.'s to "ride" the Polar Express and hear the story! Santa was there, and they had crafts and snacks for the kids. Also, showed the Polar Express movie.

Look who discovered the bookshelf!

Watching Momma and Daddy decorate the Christmas tree!

Taking a bath and eating one of his juice pops.

Sitting with Great-Grammie Aldrich at the family Christmas party, opening a bag of goodies!

Redneck antenna...

Mmmm cocoa with colored marshmallows!

Listening to Daddy play the guitar and sing songs. One of Jackson's top favorite activities!!!

Stockings my Mom made, one for the new baby too! I still need to get a hook for it!

Christmas tablecloth my Grammie gave me

Sugar cookies! I actually decorated cookies this year! It was fun!

Aunt Barbie gave me the recipe for these cinnamon rolls when I was 14. They had them every year for Christmas, before they opened gifts. We decided this past Christmas to adopt the tradition! I added some crushed peppermints to the glaze for an extra special touch.

Grammie Aldrich pulling Jack in his Aunts' and Uncles' new sled on Christmas. He thought that was fun!

Playing with his new drum at Grammie Osgood's.

Christmas night, Daddy helping Jack set up his new car track.

Two little cousins, trying to see just how much noise they can make!!!

My little monkey!

Uh, oh. Jackson has figured out how to push things to the side of the playpen and stand on them! Here he is standing on his drum!

The cutest hand-printed waffle iron ever! I can't bring myself to wash it off, just yet!
 *Disclaimer* It was in the cabinet, with other dishes that he was playing with, it was not hot or plugged in!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! I have been busy on a couple projects, I'm almost ready to post about those. Coming soon!